Microsoft and Toyota Announce Strategic Partnership on Next-Generation Telematics

Microsoft Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC) today announced they have forged a strategic partnership and plan to build a global platform for TMC’s next-generation telematics services using the Windows Azure platform. Telematics is the fusing of telecommunications and information technologies in vehicles; it can encompass GPS systems, energy management and other multimedia technologies.

As part of the partnership, the two companies plan to participate in a 1 billion yen (approximately $12 million) investment in Toyota Media Service Co., a TMC subsidiary that offers digital information services to Toyota automotive customers. The two companies aim to help develop and deploy telematics applications on the Windows Azure platform, which includes Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure, starting with TMC’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012. TMC’s goal is to establish a complete global cloud platform by 2015 that will provide affordable and advanced telematics services to Toyota automotive customers around the world.

As part of its smart-grid activities, aimed at achieving a low-carbon society through efficient energy use, TMC is conducting trials in Japan of its Toyota Smart Center pilot program, which plans to link people, automobiles and homes for integrated control of energy consumption. TMC believes that, as electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles become more popular, such systems will rely more on telematics services for achieving efficient energy management.

Microsoft has a long history of delivering platforms and services to the automotive market, including in-car infotainment systems built on the Windows Embedded Automotive platform, in-car mapping services with Bing and the Microsoft Tellme voice application, and many other consumer solutions.

“Today’s announcement of our partnership with TMC is a great example of how we continue to invest in the automotive industry and of our commitment to power the services that are important to consumers,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “It further validates the power of the cloud, as the Windows Azure platform will provide the enterprise-grade, scalable platform that TMC needs to deliver telematics in its automobiles worldwide.”

“This new partnership between Microsoft and Toyota is an important step in developing greater future mobility and energy management for consumers around the world. Creating these more efficient, more environmentally advanced products will be our contribution to society,” said Akio Toyoda, president of TMC. “To achieve this, it is important to develop a new link between vehicles, people and smart center energy-management systems.”

Tesla Cleans up Again at the 5th Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally

The Tesla Roadster has reconfirmed its supremacy in the world of the alternative fuel vehicles, beating more than 100 competitors during an exciting Monte Carlo Rally. Driven by former F1 driver Erik Comas, the Artic White Roadster also scored a definitive victory in the Electric Vehicles Cup. The race, which ended Sunday, covered more than 800 km, from Annecy, Valence, and included sprints on the Monaco F1 track.

"Thanks to the incredible efficiency of the Roadster, on Saturday we were able to drive for more than 450 km. There is nothing on the road like it," said Comas. "Next year I will enter 5 Roadsters owned by my company Green Car Challenge into this amazing event."

The rally passed over the Col du Corobin at a height of 1230 meters, following some of the same roads as the historic the Monte Carlo Rally.

The victory comes days after Tesla announced that Roadster owners have travelled over 10 million electric miles (16 million kilometers) around the world.The Tesla Roadster has once again proven to be the only electric car capable of participating in such hard competitions, always traveling at high performance in all conditions.

The car has an EU-certified range of 212 miles or 340 kms on a single charge. In October 2009, the Roadster set a world record when owner Simon Hackett drove the entire 313-mile or 504-km segment of Australia's annual Global Green Challenge on one charge.

The Roadster can be plugged into conventional outlets throughout the world, including 120 and 240volt systems in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. No special equipment is needed for charging: if you have an outlet that charges a cell phone or a hair dryer, you can plug in your Roadster.

About Green Car Challenge

Erik Comas and his company Green Car Challenges have a fleet of five Tesla Roadsters available for rent to those who wish to organize eco-friendly and fun events for their customers and employees. Mixing regularity rallyes on open roads and the discovery of beautiful countryside in Switzerland, France and Germany among other countries, experience incredible driving with this former F1 pilot who now masters this electric supercar like nobody else.

LG claims world's largest electric car battery plant

South Korea's LG Chem on Wednesday completed what it described as the world's largest battery plant for electric cars and vowed to become a major producer by 2015.

The company said its factory in Ochang, south of Seoul, is the world's largest lithium-ion battery plant, with the capacity to produce batteries for around 100,000 electric cars each year.

LG Chem, part of the LG group, said it would spend two trillion won ($1.84 billion) on building one new battery plant in South Korea and another in the United States over the next two years.
The plants, when completed in 2013, will help LG Chem produce batteries for 350,000 vehicles annually.

LG Chem aims to increase its share of the global electric-car battery market to more than 25 percent by 2015.

The company has secured deals to provide batteries for General Motors electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt, as well as Hyundai and eight other automakers.

President Lee Myung-Bak said at a ceremony in Ochang that South Korea's future depended on its performance in environment-friendly technologies.

Lee said green growth was an "unavoidable choice" in the times of climate change.
The battery plant is a key plank of Lee's drive to develop renewable and substitute energy sources as new growth engines for South Korea's economy, the president's office said.

It predicts the global market for electric car batteries is expected to grow rapidly to 16 trillion won in 2015 from the current 1.5 trillion won amid soaring oil prices and tougher environmental rules on emissions.

Toyota Sells One-Millionth Prius in the U.S. [video]

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. today announced the one-millionth sale of the Toyota Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid gas-electric vehicle, in the United States. It is the third milestone for Toyota’s hybrid lineup in the last six months that started with the announcement of worldwide Toyota Prius sales topping two million in October 2010 and overall global Toyota hybrid sales passing three million last month.

“Since the Prius went on sale eleven years ago not a year has gone by when it hasn’t been the number one selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S,” said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager. “Prius has become synonymous with the word hybrid and as we see fuel prices starting to rise again, it has accounted for more than 60 percent of hybrid passenger car sales so far this year. Prius paved the way for hybrids and while it is still the hybrid leader in sales and fuel economy, I’m proud to say that since its introduction, 13 other auto brands have seen the benefits of hybrid technology and joined the hybrid market.”

The third-generation Prius topped the EPA’s list of the Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles for 2011. It has been named the Best Overall Value of the Year for the last nine years in a row by IntelliChoice, and has the highest owner loyalty of any mid-size vehicle for four of the last five years according to R.L. Polk. More than 97 percent of all Toyota Prii sold since 2000 are still on the road.

Since it was introduced in the U.S. in 2000, Prius, when compared to the average car, has saved American consumers more than an estimated 881 million gallons of gas, $2.19 billion in fuel costs, and 12.4 million tons of CO2 emissions.

In January 2011 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Toyota debuted the Prius v, the first vehicle to be debuted as part of the Prius family marketing strategy. Prius v, which goes on sale in third quarter of 2011, is a mid-size vehicle that provides more than 50 percent additional interior cargo space than the current Prius. In early 2012 Prius will launch two more Prius family members – the Prius c compact hybrid vehicle and the Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicle.

Nico Rosberg explains his 2011 steering wheel with KERS [video]

In a promotional video for the Mercedes GP Formula One team, Nico Rosberg shows how an F1 steering wheel works, including the extra switches for KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) and the DRS (Drag Reduction System) device.

Rosberg explains how the KERS is deployed and how its harvesting can be adjusted.

“It shows how much harvesting is happening, so you can reduce or increase with this rotary here,” he says at some point, referring to the rotary switch for the KERS deployment.

Hope Racing Unveils Oreca Swiss HyTech Hybrid

The Swiss-based team took the wraps off its new Oreca 01 Swiss HyTech Hybrid last weekend at Paul Ricard, which features a unique energy recovery and transmission system designed by U.K. specialists Flybrid.

Powered by a conventional 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline turbo engine, badged as a Swiss HyTech, Hope Racing’s prototype will double as a flywheel-based hybrid, capable of revving to 60,000 rpm to store kinetic energy from the car’s braking phases. That energy, still in kinetic form, is then transmitted directly back to the drivetrain, bypassing the need for electric motors.

It’s a system which Flybrid calls CFT, or clutch flywheel transmission, in which team engineers claim results in no loss of energy when transmitted from the wheels to the flywheel storage and then back to the wheels.

“With battery systems, you always struggle to get energy in and out of the battery quickly,” explained Tobias Knichel, lead engineer for Flybrid’s LMP1 program. “Where the mechanical system, it basically all depends on how quickly you can decelerate or accelerate the flywheel. That determines at what rate you store the energy.”

Knichel explained that the more energy stored, the faster the flywheel will spin. Compared to the flywheel on the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, which revs at 40,000 rpm, Flybrid’s system could end up producing larger amounts of boost, although exact numbers have not been disclosed.

While the ACO limits the amount of energy recovered to 500 kilojoules per two braking phases, it’s a massive increase over the previously allowed 400 kilojoules per lap in Formula One, where Flybrid developed its first-generation system for Honda F1 over two years ago.

“Obviously there are a lot of braking phases at Le Mans,” Knichel said. “We’re really thankful for the ACO to write the rules as they are at the moment. They allow very powerful KERS systems, which is not possible in Formula One. I think that’s one of the reasons why you don’t see any mechanical systems [in F1] and why it was not met with a lot of enthusiasm.”

The team plans to roll out its hybrid for testing next week at Paul Ricard, prior to a public debut at the Le Mans Test Day, where it will likely be joined by Peugeot’s battery/electric motor-based 908 Hybrid4 and the second-generation Zytek Hybrid entered by MIK Corse.

In order to be certified by the ACO, all hybrids must complete the 400-meter long trip down the Le Mans pit lane in full electric/KERS mode. Hope will get its chance on April 20, with lead driver Steve Zacchia handling the driving duties.

“There is a strategy that we’ll use and Steve is going to be very busy in the cockpit,” said Hope Racing technical director Andrew Sayer. “To drive it only on KERS, we have to have the gearbox engaged, but the engine de-clutched. So he’ll have one or two things to do, but he’s going to be trained for that.”

With a race debut slated for next month’s Spa 1000km and participation in the remainder of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup races confirmed, Hope is poised to become the first hybrid to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June.

Chevrolet Volt the Subject of New SAE International Book

As one of the automotive engineering industry's most storied vehicles, the Chevrolet Volt has been the subject of hundreds of articles over the last few years as it went from a concept car to a reality. Now, the car is the subject of a new book from SAE International focusing on the incredible story of the vehicle's development.

The 224-page, full-color book, edited by SAE International senior editor Lindsay Brooke, is the premiere compendium of engineering information related to the Chevrolet Volt. It aggregates articles about the Volt from SAE International's Vehicle Electrification website and Automotive Engineering International (AEI) magazine along with SAE International technical papers covering the vehicle's technology development. In addition to this content, it includes interviews with the principal engineers and supplier partners who participated in the Chevrolet Volt project, as well as insights from other technology companies who bring new ideas to the electrified vehicle space.

Vehicle electrification comprises three major system technologies: lithium-based batteries, power control and electric motors. With the launch of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, GM began a new era in mobility technology—the extended range electric vehicle. AEI has closely followed the Chevrolet Volt's development—from its lithium battery technologies to its aerodynamics, subsystems and vehicle charging strategies. AEI has been deep inside the research and development labs and was the first industry publication to drive a Volt mile and experience the unique propulsion system. That sort of industry-insider access is the very thing that makes this book so important: it demonstrates, in-depth, the design process of electrification to mobility professionals.

The rapid push of automakers towards vehicle electrification demonstrates the need to understand cutting-edge electric vehicle trends. The Chevrolet Volt is certainly on the cutting edge of those trends, filled with groundbreaking engineering and often singled out by industry experts as the leader of vehicle electrification. The EPA recently released their official fuel economy label for the Volt: 93 MPG equivalent in all-electric mode, entirely peerless in the world of traditional gasoline powered cars. The market has reacted very positively to the Volt, and it is Motor Trend's 2011 Car of the Year.

Chevrolet Volt – Development Story of the Pioneering Electrified will be of interest to any automotive engineering professional, but will be of special interest to executives, engineers and mobility professionals who are interested in vehicle electrification development. Suppliers will also find the book useful for positioning their products for electric vehicle adoption. Academics and enthusiasts will enjoy the incredible depth of the book's story of the Chevrolet Volt.

AEI Senior Editor Lindsay Brooke has written extensively about automotive technology, manufacturing, business and history for 30 years for various trade and consumer publications. He was also technology analyst for a major auto industry analysis firm.

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